Apple announces 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 2560×1600 display

The thinner, lighter, and more expensive laptops start at $1,699, ship today.

In June, Apple unveiled its 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the first of its Macs to use a resolution-doubled "Retina" display. At its press event in San Jose today, Apple expanded the lineup with a smaller 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which will be sold alongside the standard 13-inch MacBook Pro (at least for now). The new MacBooks start at $1,699, which gets you a dual-core 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. Stepping up to the $1,999 model gets you a 256GB SSD. Both configurations begin shipping today.

Enlarge/ The 13" Retina MacBook Pro includes two Thunderbolt ports, up from one in the non-Retina model.

The 2560×1600, 227-pixels-per-inch screen of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is its main draw—it doubles the 1280×800 resolution of the standard 13-inch MacBook Pro. The laptop is also a bit thinner and lighter than the non-Retina model, at 3.57 pounds (compared to 4.5 pounds for the non-Retina version) and 0.75" thick (0.95"), though it still falls short of the 2.96 pounds and 0.68" thickness of the 13-inch MacBook Air.

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro has the same complement of ports as the 15-inch model: a new MagSafe 2 connector, two Thunderbolt ports, and one USB 3.0 port on its left side; on its right side it has one USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, and an SD card slot. This is an improvement over the non-Retina MacBook Pros, where the 13-inch model has fewer ports than the 15-inch version. Ethernet and Firewire ports and an optical drive are predictably absent, though Apple will sell you Thunderbolt dongles for each interface and an external DVD burner for your disc-based needs.

However, the improvements relative to the 15-inch models don't extend to the processor and graphics chip. Like the standard 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Retina version uses a dual-core Intel Ivy Bridge CPU paired with Intel's HD 4000 integrated graphics. Intel's latest integrated graphics are far and away better than its previous products, but we worry that it may not be enough to drive the 2560×1600 display smoothly—our own Chris Foresman found that when disabling the 15-inch model's NVIDIA GPU to test its effect on battery life, it caused "no noticeable hiccups in functionality" but that it did cause "perceptible differences in UI smoothness." The 13-inch model also lacks the option to upgrade its 8GB of RAM to a more future-proof 16GB.

Enlarge/ The new MacBook Pro includes most of the perks of Apple's other laptops, including a FaceTime HD webcam and backlit keyboard.

The insides of the new MacBook Pro.

The rest of the computer's specs are much like the 15-inch model: dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, FaceTime HD camera, better-sounding speakers, and a backlit keyboard are all notable features, and like the Ivy Bridge MacBook Airs, the new MacBook Pro should be able to support up to two external displays, for a total of three. Apple claims that the new laptop will get up to seven hours of battery life, and up to 30 days in standby mode.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.